would protect me.”
“Just like he’s protected all his other fans, right?”
“ Estou marcados com a cruz ,” Paulo said. “I am marked , Lieutenant. It is the Lord’s sign.”
“Sure it is. I’m just saying, shut up unless you want to find out for sure if your little birthmark is the real deal.”
“ Cristo …” Paulo muttered, but spoke no more.
“When’d you sign up with the bats, Ness?” Janus grumbled, and now Vanessa looked back at him, struggling to retain the sudden fury that welled up inside of her.
“Shut your fucking mouth!” she snarled. “If it were up to me, we’d have scorched them all off the face of the Earth years ago – but it’s not up to me. It’s up to the Emperor … the man who saved you, and Paulo, and me, and everyone else we know. We all took the oath. We all knelt before him and felt his hand touch our heads, and we swore to serve him no matter what . So if he says we follow this woman, then we fucking follow her.”
Vanessa thought she was finished, turning away to look out the window again, but the rest of it bubbled up and she couldn’t keep from swinging back around, leveling a finger at Janus. “And if you ever accuse me of anything like that again, Private , I will blow your fucking jaw off and piss down the hole ‘til you drown. We clear?”
Janus was looking at her with his eyebrows raised, startled and not exactly frightened but definitely concerned. He nodded. “Crystal, Lieutenant.”
“Good. She’s coming on board, so zip it up. I don’t want to hear from you for the rest of the flight. Read a magazine. Sleep. Drink your shitty beer and watch porn on your laptop … I don’t give a fuck. Just shut up.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Vanessa turned back to the window, struggling to regain control. She was shaking. Shaking! All from a stupid, harmless comment by Janus, a man she had known for almost a decade. A man she had laughed with, drank with, flirted with (and thought about fucking more than once, in the way a person will idly entertain an impossible event, like hitting the lottery). Janus had been the first to request transfer to her unit. He knew her, respected her, wanted to work with her. It was just a dumb joke. Why the hell had she let him get under her skin?
I hate this , she thought.
There was no choice. Nothing she could do. The Emperor had given orders and Charles had affirmed them. There was nothing at all Vanessa could do except what she was told. She had sworn it, and on the day she had spoken those words, she had meant them with all of her heart.
It was the first and only time she had ever met the Emperor of the Sun, and she could still remember every moment perfectly except what the man had actually looked like. He existed in her memory surrounded by a sort of glowing haze that obscured all but a basic silhouette. Had the haze been real? Had they drugged her? Some of their training involved such measures. She couldn’t remember.
It didn’t matter; he was her Emperor. Her God. The man she had sworn to serve until her life ended. Now he wanted her to work with Captain Perrault, so that was what she was going to do.
Slowly, Vanessa brought herself under control. They had a job to do, and it was perhaps the most important of any that the Children had attempted in her lifetime. With one blow, they could break apart the vampires of America like a pane of glass. A million tiny pieces scattered suddenly into chaos. They had only to kill the girl. That was what Charles had told her, and she believed him.
Thinking of the glory to come, Vanessa pulled herself from the state Janus had put her in. When Captain Perrault climbed the stairs and stepped into the jet, looking around with that familiar detached, unimpressed expression, Vanessa smiled at her.
“Welcome aboard,” she said.
* * *
The flight progressed without incident. Janus, following his orders to the letter, drank Budweiser and unashamedly watched pornography on his
“Just like he’s protected all his other fans, right?”
“ Estou marcados com a cruz ,” Paulo said. “I am marked , Lieutenant. It is the Lord’s sign.”
“Sure it is. I’m just saying, shut up unless you want to find out for sure if your little birthmark is the real deal.”
“ Cristo …” Paulo muttered, but spoke no more.
“When’d you sign up with the bats, Ness?” Janus grumbled, and now Vanessa looked back at him, struggling to retain the sudden fury that welled up inside of her.
“Shut your fucking mouth!” she snarled. “If it were up to me, we’d have scorched them all off the face of the Earth years ago – but it’s not up to me. It’s up to the Emperor … the man who saved you, and Paulo, and me, and everyone else we know. We all took the oath. We all knelt before him and felt his hand touch our heads, and we swore to serve him no matter what . So if he says we follow this woman, then we fucking follow her.”
Vanessa thought she was finished, turning away to look out the window again, but the rest of it bubbled up and she couldn’t keep from swinging back around, leveling a finger at Janus. “And if you ever accuse me of anything like that again, Private , I will blow your fucking jaw off and piss down the hole ‘til you drown. We clear?”
Janus was looking at her with his eyebrows raised, startled and not exactly frightened but definitely concerned. He nodded. “Crystal, Lieutenant.”
“Good. She’s coming on board, so zip it up. I don’t want to hear from you for the rest of the flight. Read a magazine. Sleep. Drink your shitty beer and watch porn on your laptop … I don’t give a fuck. Just shut up.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Vanessa turned back to the window, struggling to regain control. She was shaking. Shaking! All from a stupid, harmless comment by Janus, a man she had known for almost a decade. A man she had laughed with, drank with, flirted with (and thought about fucking more than once, in the way a person will idly entertain an impossible event, like hitting the lottery). Janus had been the first to request transfer to her unit. He knew her, respected her, wanted to work with her. It was just a dumb joke. Why the hell had she let him get under her skin?
I hate this , she thought.
There was no choice. Nothing she could do. The Emperor had given orders and Charles had affirmed them. There was nothing at all Vanessa could do except what she was told. She had sworn it, and on the day she had spoken those words, she had meant them with all of her heart.
It was the first and only time she had ever met the Emperor of the Sun, and she could still remember every moment perfectly except what the man had actually looked like. He existed in her memory surrounded by a sort of glowing haze that obscured all but a basic silhouette. Had the haze been real? Had they drugged her? Some of their training involved such measures. She couldn’t remember.
It didn’t matter; he was her Emperor. Her God. The man she had sworn to serve until her life ended. Now he wanted her to work with Captain Perrault, so that was what she was going to do.
Slowly, Vanessa brought herself under control. They had a job to do, and it was perhaps the most important of any that the Children had attempted in her lifetime. With one blow, they could break apart the vampires of America like a pane of glass. A million tiny pieces scattered suddenly into chaos. They had only to kill the girl. That was what Charles had told her, and she believed him.
Thinking of the glory to come, Vanessa pulled herself from the state Janus had put her in. When Captain Perrault climbed the stairs and stepped into the jet, looking around with that familiar detached, unimpressed expression, Vanessa smiled at her.
“Welcome aboard,” she said.
* * *
The flight progressed without incident. Janus, following his orders to the letter, drank Budweiser and unashamedly watched pornography on his
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